Disturbing narrative on Hinduism and Hindus by ASLAN in the first #I BELIEVE episode'!

DISTURBING, SUBVERSIVE, AND DIABOLICAL!!! REZA ASLAN's FIRST EPISODE OF 'I BELIEVE' ON HINDUISM ON CNN!

The AGHORIS, are an extreme fringe sect of Shaivites ("Kapaliks") in Varanasi (less than 1% of the Hindu population of India), who shock people with their cannibalism, profanity, nudity, and bizarre rituals! To their credit, they do not recognize the caste system and seek Moksha, to free themselves from the cycle of birth, suffering and death!

It was shocking for viewers like us that REZA ASLAN, who is the host of CNN's 'I BELIEVE', devoted an entire hour (purportedly on HINDUISM) that primarily focused on the the Doms, who cremate the dead in Varanasi, casteism within Hinduism that he cannot get his arms around (the centerpiece of this documentary) and shocked his viewers and himself, by participating in Aghori rituals involving, drinking alcohol from a skull, wearing a headband of organs from the dead, and then ran away when the aghori Baba drank his own urine and tried to sprinkle some on him, as part of his initiation ritual.

To be fair to him, he also spoke about the evolution of the Aghoris and how they have created schools that educate poor children, agnostic to their caste, creed, or community, and hospitals that care for lepers who are otherwise shunned by society.

Given the turmoil in the world today, representation of Hindu tolerance, its co-existence with all the great religions, including many that would otherwise have been exterminated by genocide, would have been a positive message and a benchmark for the world to learn from.

In our opinion as Hindus who have been born and raised in India, and have measurably contributed to the US as Americans, Reza Aslan's representation of Hindus and Hinduism was distorted, aberrant, diabolical, and extremely likely to create a factually inaccurate picture and narrative on Hindus as primitive people who indulge in cannibalism, and bizarre rituals involving the use of organs from the dead as part of our rituals, which is simply not true!!

In this current climate, this is dangerous since the contents of this episode is all that insane folks with access to arms need, to justify hate attacks on the Hindu community, especially given the recent attacks that killed a Hindu and injured another in Kansas, and injured a Sikh in Seattle, by hatemongers!

Please remove all references, videos and articles pertaining to this episode and secure an apology from Reza Aslan for his disturbing, distorted and diabolical representation of Hinduism and Hindus that has hurt our feelings and more importantly, is likely to endanger our lives!

In anticipation of your prompt response,

The Hindu-Americans of the US

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CNN: Disturbing narrative on Hinduism and Hindus by ASLAN in the first I BELIEVE' episode'!